1. Field of the Invention
Cockroaches are primarily tropical insects but some species have become widely disseminated through commercial activities and are now cosmopolitan. The domestic species are omnivorous but are especially attracted to starchy or sweetened matter of various kinds; they also attack food, paper, clothing, books, shoes, bones, and dead insects. They are the only orthopterous insects that are involved in the contamination of food. Of the many species of cockroaches, house inhabitors include American (Periplaneta americana), oriental (Blatta orientalis), Austrailian (P. australasiae), German (Blattella germanica), brownbanded [Supella longipalpa (F.)], smokybrown [P. fuliginosa (Serville)], and Florida woods [Eurycotis floridana (Walker)] cockroaches. They prefer secluded, warm, damp places and, at night or on dark days, they sample filth and foods and impart to infested areas an unpleasant odor.
This invention relates to a system designed for use in insect control programs, especially those designed to control cockroaches.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The dried mash from a distillery was reported by Adler [J. Environ. Sci. Hlth. A20:839-844 (1985) to be specifically attractive for the brownbanded cockroch, Supella longipalp (F.), but is failed to attract American cockroaches, Periplaneta americana (L.). In contrast, Brenner et al. [Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 81:581-592 (1988); J. Med. Entomol. 25:489-592 (1988); J. Econ. Entomol. 82:159-162 (1989)] reported that distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS, Agricultural Energy Corp., Franklin, KY) was attractive to 15 species of cockroaches including American cockroaches. Furthermore, the DDGS is advantageously unattractive to nontarget mammals, in contrast to other baits such as pieces of fruit, bread, and beer [Jackson et al., Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 4:141-146 (1955), Ohio J. Scl. 61:220-226 (1961); Reierson et al., Pest Control 45: 40, 42-44 (1977); Fleet et al., Environ. Entomol. 7:807-814 (1978)] or dry cat food [Appel et al., Environ. Entomol. 14:669-673 (1985)] which are attractive to mammals as well as cockroaches.
A number of food attractants have been formulated with toxicants and aqueous gel binders to provide toxic paste baits for cockroaches. For example, Doi et al. [Chem. Abst. 107:129156n (1987)] controlled cockroaches with a paste containing boric acid, potato starch, corn starch, rice bran, molasses, water, and dye; Barson [Chem. Abst. 97:87017k (1982)] used a mixture of boric acid plus porridge oats and iodofenphos gel; and Peeters [Chem. Abst. 84: 131508d (1976) ] combined bakery wastes, boric acid, and water. Similarly, the proprietary roach bait station sold under the trademark, "It Works" (Bridgeport, CT) is advertised as containing boric acid, an attractant, and a humectant.